The present invention relates to a high velocity jet shaped charge device which permits the formation of a coherent jet of greater length and mass and higher velocity than previous prior art devices. The present invention when incorporated into a missile or projectile warhead and delivered to an armored target produces substantially increased jet energy, penetration and target damage.
Various means have been used in the past to provide projectiles with enhanced penetrating ability in order to defeat armored vehicles. Prior art shaped charge projectiles frequently relied upon the formation of a metallic high velocity jet for their lethality. The problem with shaped charge devices was that they were limited by physical laws from producing coherent jets with velocities greater than two times the sound velocity of the liner material. Shaped charge devices using liner material made of copper, nickel, and aluminum have produced jet velocities in the 4-11 kilometer per second range.
Previous attempts to produce faster, coherent (non-radially dispersing) jets through various changes in design geometries and different use of materials with exceedingly high sound velocity proved unsuccessful. Shaped charges utilizing beryllium as a liner material produce mostly non-coherent jets, although the jet particle cloud was reported to travel at velocities as high as 22 Km/s. It should be noted however, that even if a beryllium liner could be formed into a coherent jet, the penetration would be low since the density of beryllium is low as compared to copper. In the prior art, it has been possible to produce a high velocity jet tip particle from nickel liners with velocity higher than the physical limitation of two times the sound velocity of the liner material. However, only a small tip particle was contiguous and therefore not useful as an armor penetrator.